Wild Cards
"Wild Cards" is the forty-eighth and forty-ninth episodes of Justice League. It originally aired on December 26, 2003. Plot Part I The Joker buys airtime on a large number of television channels and broadcasts his own reality television special from Las Vegas: he’s planted a time bomb somewhere on the Strip, and only the Justice League can disarm it, or else he’ll detonate it immediately. The bomb is set to go off in just under twenty-three minutes. Joker’s also planted a large number of cameras all over the city, allowing him, and the viewers, to keep track of the League’s every move. As people flee the city in panic, the League – Superman, Batman, Hawkgirl, Green Lantern, and The Flash arrive in Vegas. Superman quickly locates the bomb with his x-ray vision, but the League is attacked by Joker’s own squad of superpowered henchmen, the Royal Flush Gang. As they battle the rest of the League, Batman defuses the bomb, only to find it is a fake. Superman scans the Strip, and finds twenty-five bombs, with just under fourteen minutes left. While they go after the bombs, Joker explains the origin of the Gang: a group of five kids born with superpowers, they were imprisoned by the government as teenagers to be trained as human weapons, until Joker freed them. The League splits up to disarm them, harassed by the Gang. Batman, impressively, manages to talk Flash through disarming a bomb even while battling one of them, Jack. At one casino, Green Lantern and Hawkgirl are arguing over defusing a bomb. The Joker mocks the romantic tension between them, and decides, just for fun, to press his detonator. Hearing a beep, Lantern ejects Hawkgirl from the building, just as the bomb explodes. Part II Frantic, Hawkgirl searches the wreckage of the casino for Lantern. She finds him, gravely injured. She tries to revive him with CPR, then finally succeeds with an impromptu electroshock from her mace. Abandoning the bomb hunt, she flies Lantern to get medical help. Still fighting Jack, Batman manages to down a helicopter carrying Harley Quinn. Batman plays on her jealousy by insinuating Joker’s seeming affection for Ace, the last member of the Gang. By now, there is only one bomb left, with only a few minutes remaining. Superman holds off Ten and King while Flash tries to disarm it, but Joker distracts him. With exactly one second left, Flash just grabs the bomb and disappears – incredibly, managing to run it out of the city, drop it, and get away, as it is exploding. The Joker applauds the League’s success, but then reveals the horrific true nature of his plan: Ace has a basilisk gaze, the power to drive people insane just by looking at them, either in person or on TV. The whole bomb plot was a ploy to drive up the viewership of the program to the maximum – by Joker’s estimate, sixty or seventy million people are now watching – and now they can’t look away, as Ace has them mesmerized. In a few minutes, their minds will all be destroyed. A furious Harley arrives at the studio, inadvertently leading Batman to Joker’s hideout. Batman confronts Joker, but is disabled by Ace. Joker attacks him, literally "kicking him while he's down", and Batman tries to defend himself. As they struggle, Batman plucks something out of Joker’s pocket – the mind-control headband that Ace’s government handlers used to pacify her. Seeing it, Ace is enraged, and turns her power on Joker, driving him into a catatonic state. Ace walks out; Batman is too weak to follow her. Up in the Watchtower, Hawkgirl reports that Lantern is out of danger. He wakes up and confronts her, saying it is time for them to admit their feelings for each other. She demurs, but can’t deny the way she feels. For the first time, she removes her headdress, revealing her face, and they kiss. Cast Trivia *Wonder Woman and J'onn J'onzz do not appear. *This episode marks the last performance of Mark Hamill as The Joker, who has voiced the character in the DC Animated Universe since 1992, for . *The Joker’s countdown starts just below twenty-three minutes, the average length of a half-hour television episode without commercials. *The Joker's line about stealing the kids away from their government handlers, "and they would have gotten away with it, too, were it not for me meddling with the kids!" is a spoof on the well-known catchphrase from Scooby-Doo. Hamill has often voiced characters in the direct-to-video movies of Scooby-Doo. *The episode is a subtle crossover with the Teen Titans animated series, as the members of the Royal Flush Gang are all voiced by actors from that series, with powers roughly similar to their Titans characters. Goofs *Batman tells the Flash to disarm the bomb by disconnecting four wires in a specific order. After Flash's hands stop moving, all of the wires (more than four) have been disconnected. Likewise, when Superman disarms a bomb, he uses his heat vision to disconnect different wires, and in a different order. Quotes *'King:' (After he stops Flash from disarming the last bomb) Come on, you didn't think that it was going that easy, did ya? Flash: Well, actually, yeah! *'Joker:' Ah ah ah, don't touch that remote! I know that it's heartbreaking to have your favorite shows pre-empteed, but look what you're getting instead: me! Along with a whole truckload of mindless violence and wanton property damage: everything that makes TV great! So stay tuned, you won't believe your eyes! (The Royal Flush Gang is being interviewed) *'Ten:' The food's a lot better since we signed on with the J-man! Jack: I like his style (picks nose with outstretched finger). Joker's a class act. King: Don't get me wrong, these guys give good backup, but they don't call me King for nothing! Queen: (Referring to King) Yeah, a real genius, that one. I am the most powerful, and- (camera pans to Ace, who is standing right next to her). Okay, one of the most powerful. Why shouldn't I be in charge? *'Joker:' (To the tune of "London Bridge is Falling Down") Big ol' Bats has fallen down (kicks Batman) on the ground (kicks Batman again) mind unsound! (kicks Batman yet again) Big ol' Bats has fallen down (kicks Batman far away) I'm so happy! Category:JL episodes